The amount of undisclosed income under investigation in India in the Panama Papers leak has crossed the Rs 1,000-crore mark, the income tax department has said. The Central Board of Direct Taxes gave the information in response to a Right to Information query filed by journalism student Saurav Das, The Indian Express reported on Friday.
In November, the Finance Ministry had put the figure at Rs 792 crore. Now, it is Rs 1,088 crore, the CBDT said in the response.
The investigation into the Paradise Papers leak is at a preliminary stage, the tax department said. Meanwhile, undisclosed credits under investigation after being revealed by the Offshore Leaks of 2013 are now at Rs 11,010 crore.
In April 2016, millions of documents were leaked from the database of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca that revealed the hidden offshore wealth of some of the world’s top leaders and celebrities. The list included 500 Indians.
On September 8, 2017, the tax department filed the first batch of at least five prosecutions against people named in the leak. The Centre had formed a multi-agency group to investigate the allegations.
In another such investigation – Paradise Papers released in November 2017 – at least 714 Indians were named in documents leaked from two financial companies that help the rich and the powerful move their money abroad and invest it in 19 tax havens.
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